Best pick/thumbpick I've tried

OilCityPickups

These things are in the process of transforming my life! 
With the new band I'm doing a lot of lead mixed with Travis picking and it's been a nightmare for me! I have never really felt very comfortable with hybrid picking, it just feels that I want to be using 'P-IMA' like I learned when I was a kid ... thumb and first with a bit of second and third fingers chucked in the mix. Problem is I also have never got on with Brian Setzer's 'tuck the pick back in your hand and then bring it into play for single note lines ... it all starts fine ... then I pick juggle, drop the bloody thing and bugger myself up for the rapidly approaching lead part! 
I tried conventional letter q shaped thumb picks, but regularly caught a string under the gripping part ... and found them dick all good for lead. 

Enter the Black Mountain pick ... a thumb flatpick in several gauges, where the gripping part is hinged and spring loaded to gently but firmly grip your thumb. Bloody fantastic ... as intuitive to use as any ordinary flat pick for lead lines ... but stays firmly where it's put when you want to Travis pick ... so simple .... so good! 

Funkfingers

I have, at various times, been inspired to try thumb picks by the likes of James Burton and Tommy Emmanuel.

I always dislike the way that the conventional one-piece design tries to strangle my thumb. Instead, I grow my nail long and use that. This gives me the choice of callus, keratin or both. Plus, no possibility of dropping.

guitars4you

Interesting thought on this - I can of have a 'poor' hybrid picking at times - Totally self taught on this but not a style that works well and/or would suggest others copy - But think I should go down a more 'suggested' route - Saw the Eagles the other day and noticed on the close up screen shots how S Smith uses a thumb pick

Call me stupid if this is the case - But when I've dabbled at it, I've always had the pick on the nail side - Just assumed it was correct -Yet it always felt like some weird growth on my thumb that never worked - Hence never stuck with it - Yet noticed that S Smith has the pick part of the thumb pick on the flesh side of the thumb - As though it is a pick between the forefinger and thumb

So now I"m not sure which is correct/best, or indeed if both are par for the course - Yet how S Smith has it appears to me to now be more logical

Further more others have told me that you want the pick part to be as small as possible, which is how I use a normal pick, with only a tad sticking out - yet S Smith has 3/4/5 mm sticking out

Yet I'm also a B Setzer fan and note he just goes from normal pick to thumb, as/when required and when in teh thumb mode he kind of 'roles' the pick into his grasp for safe keeping - I know I'd drop it if I tried it 

So the question is, should the pick part of the thumb pick be on the nail side , or the flesh side - Or doesn't it matter

OilCityPickups

They are actually shaped to fit your thumb like this ... 

guitars4you

OilCityPickups said:

They are actually shaped to fit your thumb like this ... 

Weird isn’t 
For nearly 50 years now, when I’ve dabbled at it I tried it the other way round- never dawned on me to try it above yet my way never felt right 

looking at S Smith he morphs between a hybrid style with fingers as well - But if thumb pick alone, he has his fore finger pushed tight up to the thumb pick so it functions like a normal pick 

OilCityPickups

guitars4you said:

OilCityPickups said:

They are actually shaped to fit your thumb like this ... 

Weird isn’t 
For nearly 50 years now, when I’ve dabbled at it I tried it the other way round- never dawned on me to try it above yet my way never felt right 

looking at S Smith he morphs between a hybrid style with fingers as well - But if thumb pick alone, he has his fore finger pushed tight up to the thumb pick so it functions like a normal pick 

For lead work I just grip the other side with my first finger and treat it like a normal pick ... because that's what it feels like ... albeit a normal pick I can't drop however ham fisted I am. 

I suppose the down side is that they are a bit more expensive than ordinary flat picks ... but then they are harder to loose! 

Offset

@OilCityPickups ;I will give one a go.  I've always grown my right-hand thumbnail long for this purpose but it cracks and splits all too easily.

I normally use a 1mm plectrum thickness - would that equate to a 'medium' gauge?

OilCityPickups

Offset said:

@OilCityPickups ;;;;I will give one a go.  I've always grown my right-hand thumbnail long for this purpose but it cracks and splits all too easily.

I normally use a 1mm plectrum thickness - would that equate to a 'medium' gauge?

To me the grey ones ... medium ... I now use feel just a smidge stiffer than Dunlop 0.71 I used to regularly use. 

My thumbnail and fingernails crack like a bastard ... the doc put it down to huge doses of steroid as a kid for asthma and eczema ... I really need to visit one of the many nail bars locally and get a false index nail fitted ... have done this before and it worked a treat. 

Offset

Brill - many thanks.

Offset

Ordered! Will let you know how I get on.  Thanks for the PSA.

OilCityPickups

Offset said:

Brill - many thanks.

You are most welcome ... :-) 
Picks are such a small thing compared to our guitars worth hundreds and even thousands of pounds ... but if they aren't working right for you its such a handicap. 

OilCityPickups

PS ... for anyone wanting to get the proper Grady Martin/Paul Burlson - Train Kept Rolling picking from the original Johnny Burnette version ... this pick is a godsend ... 

guitars4you

I use a 2mm Dunlop Stubby so need to look which is suitable for me to try

guitars4you

https://blackmountainpicks.com/pages/thumb-picks

Justin Johnson is awesome player - check out some of his work on YouTube - his version of uptown funk is excellent

guitars4you

Eaglemusicshop.com look a good option to buy in the uk

rpr

Herco do something similar ish https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/herco-flat-thumb-pick-extra-heavy-3-pack.  

OilCityPickups

rpr said:

Herco do something similar ish https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/herco-flat-thumb-pick-extra-heavy-3-pack.  

Tried those ... and of course they are not spring loaded so they fall off WAY too easily for me.  Cos I is ham fisted innit 

BillDL

@OilCityPickups Could you please do something for me.  If you could measure the width of your thumb between the actual knuckle and the cuticle it would serve as a rough comparison with my own thumb so I have an idea whether these will work for me.  Also, did you buy the ones with the normal tension or higher tension spring?

You know it's funny when I look back at all the various things I improvised and fashioned for myself almost 40 years ago by necessity because some things didn't exist at the time, but somebody with the same ideas ran with them and they later became patented commercial products.  I used to use ordinary thumbpicks and would immerse them in really hot water until they begun to straighten out, then quickly fish them out, mould them onto my thumb, and then slide them off at the last moment before they hardened again to bend them inwards a tiny bit more to act as the spring.  I managed to get a really good fit that way where they didn't cut off the circulation, and I then tapered the thickness of the pick part with sandpaper to make them feel a bit more like a flatpick.  The actual pick part was still the same narrow width though, so I shortened it and glued and screwed on a fairly thick flatpick and tapered the thickness down steadily towards the end with sandpaper.  They worked really well and I probably still have a couple kicking around..

A ready made spring loaded product of the same idea is obviously a much easier prospect than footering around with hot water, glue, small screws and sandpaper, so I might well buy some even though a balk a bit at the price.

OilCityPickups

24mm mate or one inch ... I'm impressed I have a thumb capable as being used for ... er ... rule of thumb :-)
And mine are just the ordinary ones springs wise ...
I only bought one initially to try ... now I have several. I was very sceptical ... but for me they are now 'must haves'.

sev112

I okay with versions of these kinds of things every few months or so, as a mainly finger picker acoustic player who has bitten his nails for >50 years so I play with m6 pads, which is fine, by5 sometimes you want a bit more

My learning this morning is tha5 more than person these things on a different way round with the pick on the nail side - I must have a try and see how that feels

OilCityPickups

sev112 said:

I okay with versions of these kinds of things every few months or so, as a mainly finger picker acoustic player who has bitten his nails for >50 years so I play with m6 pads, which is fine, by5 sometimes you want a bit more

My learning this morning is tha5 more than person these things on a different way round with the pick on the nail side - I must have a try and see how that feels

I tried it after reading the posts .... awful is how it feels! 

I think these are at their most useful for electric Travis pickers who mix fairly aggressive solo lines with picking ... for example stuff like Jim Heath or Brian Setzer.